AHBD wrote:She's very pretty, nice red with the blue bars. I think you had pics of her in another thread if I remember correctly. It's O.K if she goes in + out, that's normal. And this is just precautionary, she may not have eggs to lay but if she does then you are set because she has her box. Other than that she'll burn up her youthful energy which is fine. The laybox can be in the middle or cool side, you don't want it to get too hot in there.

Thank you! She’s very cute haha. And yes, that’s her in the other thread. I’ll put the laybox in the cool side now. She pooped today and the urate was an orange colour, is this something to be worried about?

AHBD wrote:She may be slightly dehydrated or getting a bit too much calcium. If it was just a tinge of color that's O.K. Do you use calcium with or w/out D3 ? And what exact type of uvb lights do you have ?

It was quite a bright orange, most of the urate was that colour. I use a calcium without D3 5 days a week, and Nutrobal twice a week. Her uvb is an Arcadia 12% t5 floodlight with a reflector. I just gave her a bath, she doesn’t drink at all. She didn’t eat anything yesterday and only ate 3 small hoppers today, so she isn’t getting much water from her food either.

It is pretty close but as long as she's not directly under the bulb it should be O.K. If it was directly under then she would get burned so be sure not to put it under. I've never liked the layout of some of those tanks, they don't allow much distance from where the heat bulb hangs in the tank to where the dragon is. Plus some curious + energetic beardie will actually leap right on to the bulb. Just not a good design.

As for her drinking, get an eyedropper for dripping water on her snout. Be patient, you can drip, stop, repeat. If she doesn't go for it after a minute or two try mixing just a bit of natural fruit juice or raw honey. She should have more hydration if her urates are all orange. She might also be getting too much calcium so be sure you don't coat the food so it looks like a powdered donut, they need just a light coating.

AHBD wrote:It is pretty close but as long as she's not directly under the bulb it should be O.K. If it was directly under then she would get burned so be sure not to put it under. I've never liked the layout of some of those tanks, they don't allow much distance from where the heat bulb hangs in the tank to where the dragon is. Plus some curious + energetic beardie will actually leap right on to the bulb. Just not a good design.

As for her drinking, get an eyedropper for dripping water on her snout. Be patient, you can drip, stop, repeat. If she doesn't go for it after a minute or two try mixing just a bit of natural fruit juice or raw honey. She should have more hydration if her urates are all orange. She might also be getting too much calcium so be sure you don't coat the food so it looks like a powdered donut, they need just a light coating.

I’ve swapped it for a lower log just to be sure. I’ve never noticed her having urates like this before, she didn’t eat yesterday so didn’t get any calcium at all. How long does the laying process usually last? She’s been like this since January 5th, but seems to be worse this week as she’s stopped eating and is scratching around a lot.

I totally agree with AHBD, I don't think you have any reason to worry at all here, nor any need for a vet. First of all, these are not symptoms of parasites at all, if she was having very runny stools that are very smelly then that would indicate Coccidia, but that's not the case. And honestly, the last thing you want to do right now is take her to that vet, who obviously doesn't know a whole lot about dragons at all, and have him put her on an antiprotozoan or antiparasitic medication right now for either no reason, or even a low to moderate count/load of coccidia or pinworms, which doesn't need to be treated (Only if the counts are moderate to high should you medicate for coccidia or pinworms). It's a very common and unfortunate occurrence for exotics vets to put dragons on meds for parasites when it's not necessary, and all this does is start a vicious downward spiral, as the meds are extremely harsh on them and usually cause a total loss of appetite, severe lethargy, and sometimes worse...

Again, I think it's one of two things: #1) Follicles and/or eggs, or #2) It's the usual hormonal behavior they exhibit at this age, combined with the winter blues. My year and 1 month old girl has not been eating half of what she typically does, and for whatever reason this season is really causing a lot of this, it's all over the forum.

If you can get to do an ultrasound without trying to sell you things or give her unnecessary meds then that's one thing, I just have a really bad feeling that this vet is the type that will not want to run any diagnostic tests but will still prescribe harsh antiparasitic meds that are only going to make her very sick, when she's not sick to begin with. And if she has follicles or is developing eggs, which is likely, it does take time.

Her frantic behavior certainly isn't indicative of parasite, an infection, or other illness, as with parasite and the like they behave exactly the opposite of the way she is behaving, they just lay out of the light and sleep all day long. I think she's fine, and I think that vet got you worked up over nothing at all. I'm still shocked about him talking to you about spaying her and trying to sell you pet insurance to cover the spay surgery when he didn't even know if she had follicles or eggs. That's red flag...(by the way, if you request a plain x-ray and he doesn't see eggs, that doesn't mean she doesn't have follicles and isn't going to lay eggs soon, that's why I suggest the ultrasound, it will confirm or rule-out follicles and/or eggs)...

EllenD wrote:I totally agree with AHBD, I don't think you have any reason to worry at all here, nor any need for a vet. First of all, these are not symptoms of parasites at all, if she was having very runny stools that are very smelly then that would indicate Coccidia, but that's not the case. And honestly, the last thing you want to do right now is take her to that vet, who obviously doesn't know a whole lot about dragons at all, and have him put her on an antiprotozoan or antiparasitic medication right now for either no reason, or even a low to moderate count/load of coccidia or pinworms, which doesn't need to be treated (Only if the counts are moderate to high should you medicate for coccidia or pinworms). It's a very common and unfortunate occurrence for exotics vets to put dragons on meds for parasites when it's not necessary, and all this does is start a vicious downward spiral, as the meds are extremely harsh on them and usually cause a total loss of appetite, severe lethargy, and sometimes worse...

Again, I think it's one of two things: #1) Follicles and/or eggs, or #2) It's the usual hormonal behavior they exhibit at this age, combined with the winter blues. My year and 1 month old girl has not been eating half of what she typically does, and for whatever reason this season is really causing a lot of this, it's all over the forum.

If you can get to do an ultrasound without trying to sell you things or give her unnecessary meds then that's one thing, I just have a really bad feeling that this vet is the type that will not want to run any diagnostic tests but will still prescribe harsh antiparasitic meds that are only going to make her very sick, when she's not sick to begin with. And if she has follicles or is developing eggs, which is likely, it does take time.

Her frantic behavior certainly isn't indicative of parasite, an infection, or other illness, as with parasite and the like they behave exactly the opposite of the way she is behaving, they just lay out of the light and sleep all day long. I think she's fine, and I think that vet got you worked up over nothing at all. I'm still shocked about him talking to you about spaying her and trying to sell you pet insurance to cover the spay surgery when he didn't even know if she had follicles or eggs. That's red flag...(by the way, if you request a plain x-ray and he doesn't see eggs, that doesn't mean she doesn't have follicles and isn't going to lay eggs soon, that's why I suggest the ultrasound, it will confirm or rule-out follicles and/or eggs)...

She definitely isn’t lethargic at all, she’s still very alert and active. She did have a weird poop today which I mentioned earlier, I took a photo of it just in case I went back to the vet if you’d like me to post it here. But this might just be because I haven’t been giving her baths as often as I usually do as she’s been pooping in her tank, I usually have to bath her everyday. I don’t really want to go back to the vet unless she does go downhill as it costs £35 for a consultation there. I’ve also noticed that there a lot of people saying their beardies are showing frantic behaviour and acting weirdly on here.Thank you for all the help, you and AHBD have made me feel much less stressed out over this.

You can post the poop if you want to, I have no idea what you mean by "weird", lol, so yes you can post it so we can see it. Keep in mind that both reptiles and birds tend to lay large, messy poops when they are carrying eggs, that's a nasty side-effect of the eggs. I used to breed budgies, cockatiels, and conures, and when they were getting ready to lay their eggs, in addition to them going crazy the would drop the largest, messiest poops you could imagine all over the place.

EllenD wrote:Awe, I hope so, I know how they worry us..constantly, lol.

You can post the poop if you want to, I have no idea what you mean by "weird", lol, so yes you can post it so we can see it. Keep in mind that both reptiles and birds tend to lay large, messy poops when they are carrying eggs, that's a nasty side-effect of the eggs. I used to breed budgies, cockatiels, and conures, and when they were getting ready to lay their eggs, in addition to them going crazy the would drop the largest, messiest poops you could imagine all over the place.

Here it is[Click image to enlarge]I was concerned about the orange colour, but it could be because she’s dehydrated as she isn’t eating, so her only hydration is coming from her baths. The greens are just there because they got stuck to her feet haha

Hi. I thought I’d give an update on Cleo. I took her a different vet, it turns out that a great exotics vet comes to a practice in my area every other week, and he had a feel of her stomach and said that it’s very likely that she is gravid. I was originally going to have an ultrasound done but he said he doesn’t want to waste our money as he can already feel them, and if she doesn’t progress then he’ll ultrasound her in the next week or so.He gave me some advice about her lay box and suggested swapping the storage box for a cat litter tray. I put her hide in the litter tray, and she prefers it a lot more and can go in easily by herself. He also gave her some herbivore recovery diet as she hasn’t been eating, and gave me some to take home if she carries on not eating. Since her vet visit, she seems to have gone back to her usual self. She’s eating the same amount of live food as she used to, isn’t going crazy in her viv and allows me to hold her without running away. I have looked for eggs in the lay box and can’t see any, but she’s almost herself again.